I I'm starting to get really upset. I have been feeling very confident in my brewing skills as of lately, except for the fact that this ugly crap keeps forming. I have replaced everything but my wine thief. I have soaked all tools in Starsan for way more than a min. And this layer keeps forming. I know to taste it and sniff it and whatnot. But does anyone know what this is and why it is forming? I use a swamp cooler to keep things cool and have only been using glass carboys lately. HELP OLD TIMERS. This is upsetting me greatly. Pictures are from both batches.

I would soak your equipment in PBW. This will clean your equipment with little to know scrubbing. This is different than soaking in starsan. Starsan just sterilizes equipment, it does not clean them. Honestly that is where 99% of infections come from.

do you crush your grains in the same room you ferment in? if so malted barley contains trace amounts of lacto on the exterior of there husk, all that dust in the air has to settle somewhere....
Just a guess but ive read and seen it before.
good luck!

EDIT: on the flip side very cool looking pelicles, pitch some brett and forget about this batch for 6 months. youll have some nice soured beer

All-grainier here. I do not crush my grain in the same room. I really don't want this batch to have to wait another 6 months. It's a pumpkin ale. I like what you are saying about the pbw stuff. I may give that a shot in the future. I just feel like its clean though. I just don't really know what else to do. Stupid wine thief.

The airlocks are still nicely full of Starsan. I've heard people using vodka but isn't Starsan just fine? I used water when I first started. Didn't have a problem there though.

You have a ton of headspace there- which is ok if it's in primary.

But if it's been racked, and this is a clearing vessel, oxygen due to a lot of headspace can increase the risk of infection especially oxygen-loving bacteria (aceterobacter, lactobacillus, mold).

If this is happening in primary, I'd say that something is really wrong with your sanitation. If it's in the clearing vessel, I'd say that next time leave it in primary for two weeks and then bottle from there.

__________________Broken Leg BreweryGiving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

Thanks yooper. Also a great point. It has always been in secondary. I just don't have anything smaller than a 5 gallon for a secondary. Also this pumpkin ale had a spice tea that I made so I kinda had to secondary it. I may do the teas at bottling then. Can I bottle this? Im about to once I sanitize all the bottles.

Thanks yooper. Also a great point. It has always been in secondary. I just don't have anything smaller than a 5 gallon for a secondary. Also this pumpkin ale had a spice tea that I made so I kinda had to secondary it. I may do the teas at bottling then. Can I bottle this? Im about to once I sanitize all the bottles.

I wouldn't bottle it yet- as the SG might keep dropping due to the lacto infection.

__________________Broken Leg BreweryGiving beer a leg to stand on since 2006